Jun 12, 2010

Bookmarklet Installation: The A,B,C & D's

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If you have been following my blog, this article will contain redundant information. I don't have an article devoted solely to installing bookmarklets. I hope the people without computer backgrounds can learn how to install bookmarklets by using this one. I don't think I'm stupid but my only exposure to computers before Facebook and Mafia Wars was E-mail, Hospital Information Systems (these are set up so all I ever had to do was click a few the buttons and add data and notes) and games. I'm sure many are in the same boat I was. Players who are new to using bookmarklets will ask you questions if they know you use them. Feel free to use this article as a guide to help your computer challenged mafia family members. The only reason I know how to use bookmarklets today is because someone took the time to explain to me what they are and how to use them. I kept hearing about this chucker thing and I had to have it. I was too computer illiterate to understand that I needed to install it and not just click on it once from the website (yes, I'm admitting this!). I would get so frustrated when I clicked on Chuck-A-Crap (the old name for The Chucker) and nothing would happen. Two of my mafia members were so kind to take the time to explain everything to me. Thank you Gerry Tierney and Shiven Singh for helping me learn how to make my game easier and more enjoyable. Before learning how to install a bookmarklet, it helps to know a little bit about what one is. Josh Miller of Miller Marklets provides an easy to understand explanation:

What is a Bookmarklet?"Bookmarklets are easy to use! They are treated just like website bookmarks (or "favorites") but when you click on them, instead of going to a new webpage, little programs (scripts) written in a web language called Javascript are run instead. These scripts automate or do things to the webpage you are currently viewing to make it easier to work with. To "install" a bookmarklet, just drag the bookmarklet link to your bookmarks toolbar in your browser window. This toolbar is usually located just below the address bar. If you are using Google Chrome, it is hidden by default and you can turn it on and off by pressing Ctrl-B on your keyboard. Note that most bookmarklets use code that is not supported by Internet Explorer. It is recommended that you use either Google Chrome or Firefox. NOTE that most bookmarklets only work if the webpage or site you are viewing is in English. This is because most scripts search the page you are viewing for certain (English) keywords."/Josh Miller, Miller Marklets

Acceptance: Now that you know what bookmarklets are, you need to decide if using them is right for you. Refer to my article titled Scripts & Zynga/Facebook TOS. This is is a personal choice and I can neither encourage or condone the use of bookmarklets. We should all be able to play the game however we choose.

Bookmarklets: If you decide to use bookmarklets, you need to choose which ones are best for your style of play. There are many great scripts to choose from. The Bookmarklets Page of this blog has the links to locations of all the great bookmarklets. If I left any out, please comment or contact me and I will add them. Eventually, I will write an article about each useful Facebook and Mafia Wars related bookmarklet with instructions on how to use them once they are installed. They aren't hard to figure out so play around with the ones that interest you and see the amazing things they can do. For fun, I threw a few of my favorites below. Those script writers are pretty darn smart!

Once you decide which bookmarklet to install. Make sure that you can view your bookmark toolbar. As Josh informed us, most scripts will not work on Internet Explorer (IE). If you are playing Mafia Wars on IE, STOP and make the switch to Firefox or Chrome (there are other browsers like Safari and Opera but I don't know anything about these and assume that the people who do are computer savvy and don't need to read this article). You won't believe how much faster you can play Mafia Wars.

If your bookmark Toolbar isn't visible, go to where it says "View" in the way upper left hand corner of your computer and click on it and follow this pathway:

View-->Toolbars--> check Bookmarks Toolbar.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;font color="#000000"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;You've got a problem, as JavaScript is not currently enabled in your browser. You should be able to enable it through your options menu.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/fo

CLICK+DRAG & DROP
Once everything is set up properly and you have chosen a bookmark. Just right click on the bookmark name and DO NOT release. While holding pressure on the right click portion of your mouse, move it to the top where your bookmark toolbar is and release the pressure anywhere within the bookmark toolbar. The bookmark will look like a ghost when you are moving it. This whole process is called dragging in the computer world. In the first image below, the red line represents any of the bookmarklets shown above or on the script writers websites. Now that you have bookmarked your script, all you need to do is go to the correct page and click on it once. The websites will have instructions telling you what page you need to be on in order for the script to work. If you are not on the correct page you will either get an error message telling you this or nothing at all will happen. If you are on the right page and your screen starts to go all crazy, you can stop it in it's tracks by clicking on the bookmark again (for most) or adjust your computer settings. Usually the first click of a bookmarklet will unframe the Mafia Wars page and a second click will activate the script. If you need to navigate within the game after activation, you will notice that your scroll bars are missing. All you need to do in this case is click on another script that will add them back. To learn how to prevent screen shrinkage, what frame and unframed Mafia War pages are and how to get your scroll bars back, click HERE to read the article I wrote about these three topics. Before you go to the script writers fan pages to report that a script is not working, try deleting the script and re-adding it. Some scripts will update themselves (they are called live) and others need to be re-added after the script writer has updated the script whenever there is an improvement or a change when Zynga changes up the game. You should also clear your cache and restart your computer. If The Chucker still does not work, make sure the person you are trying to send gifts to is in your mafia. If they are not, the chucker will not work and you will feel silly for creating a post or discussion thread on Arun's Mafia Helpers Fan Page announcing that the chucker is broken.

In Firefox, you can also click on the little star with the word "Bookmarks" located to the left of the browser bar and you will get additional visible bookmark holding space on the left side of your computer screen. My computer looks like a Christmas Tree with bookmarks hung all over it. How appropriate that the symbol for bookmarking is a star! In addition to bookmarking your favorite scripts, you can also bookmark your favorite pages. Just go to the gray star located inside the far right of your browser bar and click on it once to bookmark the page (the star will turn yellow) and twice to edit it. You can name it whatever you want. I like to come up with funny names for mine. Especially when I'm bookmarking the Facebook Profile of someone who has made me mad and I want to attack them as soon as my stamina regenerates. I'm sure there is a more technical way to describe this whole process. Computer people, please add any comments that will add to this article.
*Original image copied from The TinyUrl Website. I apologize for making it look so sloppy. This is an effective image and I wanted to generalize for all bookmarks.

If you would like to see this happen and not just read about it, check out Josh Millers Video. He shows you how to use his popular JGrabAllGifts Bookmarklet. Pay special attention to the beginning and watch the click, drop, and drag motion in real time. Watching click, drop and drag happen while cool "tech-no" music is blaring through my computers speaker is so exciting! For a brief moment in time, I feel like a computer genius when my bookmarklet program runs smoothly on the first try. Thank you to all the script writers for making me and many others feel this way. Click HERE to watch this video. Maybe someday my screen shots will look as good as the ones Josh makes. My computer skills are weak but I can install a bookmarklet as well as any of the experts.

8 comments:

Nice, wish I would have seen something like this 6 months ago, I had to learn the hard way thru trial and error. With my very limited PC skills, It was no easy task either. thanks for the info, somewhere a bunch of newbie's game just took a big step forward. Were Zynga smart(lol) they would hire these scriptwriter's and take their game to a higher level for all....

this article was indeed very informative and helpful.Many thanks for explaining.btw, I am a computer programmer and even I found this article very helpful, juicy and friendly.so, smile, hold your head high and help us lost sould some more because you are one great Lady and I would call you a computer genius too.

About Me

I'm a Mafia Wars player just like you. I need to learn all the things I write about to play the game. I'm NOT a Mafia Wars Guru, a computer expert or a mathematician. My background is in Medicine and Clinical Laboratory Science.I thank all the great sites and people who help me learn and understand the game and all the helping tools. Please contact me if you find errors or information that will help others become better players.